Need ideas to help learn the basics once our son gets a little older...reading, writing, counting, etc?

Question

our son is only 9 weeks old, but I want to get him started on the right track for school once he gets a little bit older. I just recently saw a child who is starting K-5 and he doesn't even know how to write the letters of the alphabet. I want our son to be right on track or even a little more advanced so he's not falling behind in something as simple as kindergarten. We are already reading little stories to him, which according to his facial expressions he really enjoys.

I just want to be able to do fun stuff to help him learn...WITHOUT giving him video games to play for "learning".

Answer 1

Time with him, reading to him, allowing him to play and rest! These are all things that help them learn.  Try to not be to pushy or worried that he won't be smart. You can read books on development to help see where he is in general, here are some that I love!!!  I get them from amazon.com (check below in the source info) they have them through age 14! I plan on homeschooling my kiddos. My oldest is almost 5 and I will be teaching her phonics this year. But she knows all her abc's and numbers up to 20 just by reading to and spending time with her. When I potty trained and still to this day I have her sing the "ABC's" song while she washes her hand after going potty. Oh and some fun books for numbers and letters are the "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom" series! They are awesome! :) Good luck!

Answer 2

Read to him, try the Baby's First books with bright pictures and simple words.

When he gets older then you can color with him, do flashcards, and of course sing the songs to help him remember.  Also, though lots of TV is a bad thing, if you are looking for some good educational TV there is always Sesame Street, Baby Einsteins, and other shows.  

You may also consider enrolling him part time in a pre-school (usually around age 2.5) so he can get the hang of a school environment.  

Answer 3

i started mine off with their names - just recognising the shapes of the letters, and pointing the letters out wherever we saw them - packaging, shop windows, street signs.  By 14 months my daughter knew what her name looked like and could pick it out when shown a few words - she couldn't "read" it but recognised the shapes.  My sons were a little slower at this but learned counting easier - maybe because they were twins we always had to do a count to make sure we had enough shoes, bananas and woolly hats whenever we went out.  Supermarkets are great places for counting games!

The key with teaching babies anything is repetition and praise - they learn the basics by rote, and repeat the right things when you respond with a smile.  The more positivity they get, the more they repeat it, the more they repeat, the more they remember!

Congrats on your new baby, by the way!  Years of joy and stress ahead :)

Answer 4

When I was a kid, my parents bought me a set of those adorable "how things work" books. I don't remember exactly what series it was, but they had a bunch of additions with cute illustrations about things like plants, animals, the sky, etc.. I couldn't read them myself for a couple years, but the illustrations fascinated me and made me want to learn how.

You're right to avoid those "baby Einstein" tapes and video games. Recent studies are showing that kids who spend all their time looking at a screen in their early years miss out on the kind of learning they're supposed to be doing--which is spatial exploring. As a kid I loved boxes, pots, pans, building blocks, etc.. Basically anything I could explore and make things with.

Lastly, and perhaps most importantly--don't worry too much! I went into kindergarten not knowing how to write the alphabet, but I caught up quickly and subsequently became a voracious book worm. Helping your kid get interested in learning is a good idea, but kindergarten is a little early to be stressing about "falling behind." Kindergarten isn't a competition, and treating it as such probably isn't a good idea.

Answer 5

read read read to him.  sing songs that are learning songs like the alphabet song.  encourage colors  example:  oh see the blue truck.  we watch Thomas the Train together - colors, counting, and teaches social skills

Answer 6

Read read read!  At the risk of repeating :)

Reading lots of stories, singing songs, getting your child alphabet blocks and number foam boards (when he's older) to play with help make learning fun, and before long he'll know letters and number by sight.  

When he's 2-3 get him interactive board games, and educational toys to help give him new things to expand his learning with.

We didn't get our child (who is 5 1/2 now) computer games until he was a little past his 3rd birthday.  There are Reader Rabbit and Jumpstart Preschool games that are designed for preschool aged children that are rather ... over the heads for anyone younger than that, and some 3 year olds I knew however my son was advancing intellectually and needed more outlets to learn.  Trick is to limit play, like 20 minutes per day, IF and ONLY IF your child is at a maturity level to handle it.  Having them stare at the screen and blindly click doesn't do anyone any good :(

We do 20 minutes, at most twice a day, and some days not at all (depending on what the day's activities are), and he's been good with addition/subtraction, reading, colours for ages.

If you do let your son play computer games (3-4 years down the road), make sure YOU investigate them and research them.  They need to be educational rather than pretty, and stimulate thinking rather than simply hand-eye coordination.

Even still, the best educational base comes from spending quality time with his parents, reading, singing, exploring the world around him, playing with other kids in his age group, going on outings to museums and libraries ..... millions of kids grew up with out educational computer games, there's lots of options for you.

You might have stores in your area that focus on early-grade children and preschools, Scholar's Choice or something.  They might have some games and toys you can look at in a few years time, when he grows out of making words with his alphabet blocks :)

While your little boy is young, reading to him, singing alphabet songs and playing singing-games with numbers is something he'll probably love :)

Congratulations on your son :)  Have fun playing for now, there's no need to rush :)

~Azure